From masala chai to chai latte: When desis return as international hits

What’s in a name, quoth the Bard (Shakespeare, naturally, not Tagore or Thyagaraja), averring that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. Well, it may, but what about everything else? Brand managers and sales experts would contend that things have changed since Elizabethan times.

There’s a world of difference now between a desi gulab and a foreign rose, whether enunciated in English, German or French. Everything Indian, from Hatha Yoga to Freida Pinto, acquires a more covetous cachet with a serendipitous foreign airing. So, it was not at all surprising that masala chai was welcomed back to India as the more pricey foreign-returned chai latte, even blasphemously spiked with ‘dirty’ shots of espresso coffee. And the latest advent, haldi-doodh returning as the cosmopolitan turmeric latte, was almost preordained. However, its foreign makeover has made the drink shed the medicinal cast that prevented most Indians from downing its original desi avatar without a grimace.

Amid other things Indian coming home smelling of roses, this February’s debut of Starbucks’ pistachio and rose mocha “swirled with steamed milk and rich espresso” and topped with rose whipped cream and pistachio crumbs should be tracked. It could see Rooh Afza becoming the next Indian favourite to go international after Priyanka Chopra.